Possibilities of improving cooperation of managers and stakeholders in the National Parks Đerdap and Kopaonik

In accordance with the Law on National Parks (NP) from 2015, the manager is obliged to cooperate with the stakeholders in the area of NP. The aim of the paper is to determine the attitudes of the representatives of the Public Enterprise “NP Đerdap” and Public Enterprise “NP Kopaonik” and stakeholders in the area of these two NPs, towards the existing cooperation, as well as the possibilities for its improvement. Primary data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, 52 stakeholders' representatives from the public, private and civil sectors from the areas of both NPs were surveyed and 9 representatives of the NP managers were interviewed. In the second phase, interviews were conducted with 16 stakeholders' representatives, 2 representatives of NP managers and 2 experts (representatives of institutions and organizations, whose business activities are directly or indirectly related to the management of protected areas). Representatives of NP managers emphasize that they have cooperation with stakeholders from the public, private and civil sectors. They are satisfied with this cooperation, but also have the interest to improve it. Most stakeholders’ representatives from the area of NP Đerdap (92.6%) and NP Kopaonik (76.0%) noted that they are satisfied with the managers’ work. They also have cooperation with other stakeholders in the NP area, but they are interested in improvement. Proposals refer to sharing more information and education of stakeholders, establishing of their association and joint work on projects. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 37008-TD: Sustainable management of the total forest potential in the Republic of Serbia]